Asparagus and Sausage with Rice

While most vegetarians might hate living with a meat eater, it actually comes in handy. Hey! Don't get me wrong, I still hate when I have to be around when he's cooking pork chops, but being exposed to different foods has given me some great ideas (plus I like having a taste-tester to tell me if my veggie meats taste like real meat).

Since I have zero experience with sausage, it seriously confuses me.  My supermarket carries a few different kinds of vegetarian sausages, and I want to try them all, but I don't really know what to do with them. I tried some on a bun, but I wanted some new ideas. Ben recently made a make-shift jambalaya with rice, sausage, and potatoes. There it was, the perfect opportunity to vegetarianize! (I might have just made that word up).



What you need:



1 pound of vegetarian sausage, sliced
1 1/2 cup of rice
3 cups of veggie broth
1 bunch of asparagus, chopped
3 cloves of garlic
oil for cooking
celery salt
parsley flakes
pepper
chipotle Tabasco (or you can use any hot sauce plus liquid smoke)

What to do:
Begin by cooking  the rice according to the directions on the package, however boil the rice in the veggie broth, rather than plain water.
While the rice is cooking, heat the oil in a pan over medium heat.
Saute the garlic, asparagus, and sausage.
Add the celery salt, pepper, parsley, pepper, and Tabasco to the saute.
Saute until sausage browns and asparagus softens.



Once the rice is cooked, combine with the sausage and asparagus.













The first thing I noticed was lots of spice! The sausage was meaty and very flavorful, and I loved the soupy flavor from cooking the rice in broth. This turned out to be surprisingly comforting! I loved the hint of smokiness from the Tabasco.

Now I have a confession about asparagus. This is only the second time I have ever eaten it! It used to totally gross me out, and I had been too scared to try it. I bit the bullet (and the veggies) and actually tried a bite of asparagus that came as a side to a meal Ben ordered in a restaurant a few months ago..and I actually liked it.

If you have been following around here, you'll notice that there is no shortage of broccoli on this blog, but not too much other variety in veggies. I have been trying to expand my veggie horizons and try cooking different kinds. I ended up liking this asparagus too! It had a nice softness with a hint of sweet and a fresh veggie flavor. I wouldn't say asparagus is a favorite food of mine, but I did like it and I am going to try and make it a regular in my diet.

Do you try to expand your veggie menu too? Do meat meals inspire you to create veggie options?

Bye from the Veggie Side!

Taquitos

Normally, I'm not one for Mexican food. While I love tomatoes, cheese, avocados, and spice, I'm not a fan of beans and of course I don't eat meat. When going out to Mexican restaurants every meal is either centered around meat, or beans.  I brushed off Mexican food for a while thinking it just wasn't for me. Then I wised up. I may not be able to go out to enjoy Mexican food, but there is nothing stopping me from cooking my own Mexican food and adding in, or leaving out exactly what I want.  I sought out ground beef taquito recipes, swapped it for soy crumbles, and tailored them to my tastes. I think I ended up with a pretty awesome result.



What You Need:



1 box of Smart Ground Soy Crumbles
1 Can of corn
1/2 cup of salsa
12 6-inch tortillas (as you can see I only had 10, and I had some filling left over)
1/2 cup of shredded cheddar cheese
2 teaspoons of taco seasoning

What do to:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Heat up some oil over medium heat and cook the soy crumble according to the directions on the box.
Stir in the corn, salsa, and taco seasoning and continue to cook the filling mixture.
Place the tortillas on a plate and cover with a damp paper towel.
Microwave for 45 seconds to make them soft and pliable.
Scoop about a 1/4 cup of the filling onto the tortilla and sprinkle cheese on top.



Carefully roll up the tortillas and place on a greased baking sheet, seem side down.
Continue until all of the tortillas are filled, rolled, and placed on the baking sheet.
Optional: brush the taquitos lightly with olive oil and sprinkle on more cheese.
Bake for 10 minutes, until the edges are slightly browned, serve hot.







I ate mine with a side of Salsa Rice, inspired by The Garden Grazer.





Oh my goodness, I am obsessed with these! The soy crumbles were meaty and the tortillas were so soft and chewy. I loved how the tortillas were perfectly crispy and crunchy on the edges The salsa made these taquitos tomatoes and added that authentic Mexican flavor. The melted cheese added a nice, sharp flavor and the corn was sweet and mild. They were a little lacking in the spicy category, so I added a splash of hot sauce afterwards. Adding salsa to the rice took it to the next level. It went from plain, boring rice, to a great Mexican side dish!

Have you ever made your own vegetarian taquitos? What would you add to yours?

Bye From the Veggie Side!

Veggie Sausage Stuffing

Thanksgiving might have come and gone, but that doesn't mean I'm done eating my favorite holiday foods. Lucky for me, all those favorite foods are now on sale at the supermarket!  On a recent shopping trip, Ben noticed that my favorite Thanksgiving food, stuffing, was on sale. I snatched it right up, but I wasn't sure exactly how I wanted to eat it. At Ben's family's dinner, they had sausage stuffing, which everyone seemed to love. I was sad that I wasn't able to enjoy my Thanksgiving favorite because it was tainted with meat.  But you all know that my favorite thing to do is take meaty foods and vegetarianize them. There was a brand of veggie sausage, Frieda's, that makes a vegetarian chorizo, called Soyrizo I have been wanting to try, and vegetarian sausage stuffing was born!



What you need:



1 Bag of seasoned stuffing
5 Tablespoons butter
1 Soyrizo sausage
Salt to taste

What to do:
Start by cooking the Soyrizo according to the instructions. IMPORTANT: the casing that the Soyrizo is in is made of plastic, so you need to squeeze the veggie sausage out to cook it.



Cook Soyrizo over high heat until it is brown and crispy, about 10 minutes.
When the Soyrizo is almost done cooking, cook the stuffing according to the package. You can either use salt butter, or sweet butter and add the salt in yourself.
Then just mix the sausage into the stuffing and enjoy!





I ate my sausage stuffing with a side of roasted garlic lemon broccoli.







The Soyrizo had a pretty strong veggie flavor with just the right amount of meatiness and just a hint of tang. It had a tasty Mexican flavor with a little bit of spice. The Soyrizo had a nice, chewy texture, while the stuffing was perfectly fluffy. The stuffing has a great flavor on its own, but it also absorbed the flavors from the sausage, and it all came together really nicely. This is warm, hearty, and filling!

Have you tried to make veggie sausage stuffing? What do you like making with left-over Thanksgiving favorites?

Bye from the Veggie Side!

Veggie Burger Chronicles: At Home Southwestern

Have you even been struck by a brilliant food idea, only to have to wait all day to execute it? Well that's what happened to me at work the other day. While I was eating lunch, I was planning out what I was going to make for dinner. Yes, my whole life really does center around food.  I had just gotten some avocados on sale, and was making paninis with them. But then it hit me: avocado veggie burgers! I spent the rest of my day at work thinking about how I would accessorize it, and I decided on a southwestern style.



What you need:



2 Slices of bread
Half of an avocado
Any veggie burger of your choice
Mexican cheese
Ketchup
Tapatio

What to do:



Toast the bread.
Scoop out half of the avocado and layer it on.
Layer on the veggie burger, cheese, ketchup, and tapatio sauce.
Top with the second piece of bread.







This was well work the all day wait, because it was so good! The burger had a nice meaty flavor, while the cheese and avocado gave this a Mexican flare. This was packed with heat from the tapatio sauce.  I love this sauce. It not only has the perfect amount of spicy, but its super flavorful too. The avocado was creamy and buttery, and acted almost like a sauce. Topping this burger with ketchup made it super classic, but with a Mexican twist.

How do you make your veggie burgers at home? Will this southwestern one be on your menu?

Bye from the Veggie Side!

Sausage on a Bun

Now that I go grocery shopping for myself, I have discovered lots of gems that I never knew existed. There are so many awesome foods tucked away and I want to try them all.  Sadly, they are usually on the pricier side, but that doesn't stop me from indulging once in a while (plus I feel like I deserve it after buying 77 cent pasta).  I am often buying foods in the small soy section of the supermarket, and while I usually just stick with tofu and soy crumbles, they have lots of other foods that I would love to try.  I saw a package of Lightlife Smart Sausages Italian Style, and my mind instantly wandered as I tried to figure out all the ways I wanted to eat them.



I decided to go with sausage on a bun sandwhiches.  I have seen Ben make them before, so I turned to my resident meat-eater to figure out what else to put on the sandwich. I had to ask Ben what people eat with sausages, because I honestly didn't know! He said usually peppers or onions...both of which I'm not a fan of. After thinking a while I decided on sauteed spinach. I thought it was kind of like onions and peppers...right?

I love sauteed spinach, its so easy and fast to whip up, and its a great way to use up the not-so-fresh spinach you might have left over.



All you need is spinach, a little olive oil, a couple cloves of garlic, and some salt & pepper.

Heat up the oil in a pan over medium heat, add in the garlic and spinach. Saute until spinach wilts.



Then I cooked my sausage according to the directions on the package, put it on a bun with the spinach, and topped with mustard.





I ate my sausage on a bun with a side of potato chips, for that All-American cookout effect.





The sausage itself had a nice texture, and a mild, meaty flavor filled with Italian spices.  The flavor of the sausage went really well with the garlicy spinach. The garlic complimented the sausage and the spinach added a great veggie flavor.  Everything was tied together with a nice, toasty, crunchy bun and a bit of mustard for some heat. This meal actually made me happy. It was so good and I loved trying something new!

Have you tried these Lightlife Italian Style Smart Sausages? What is your favorite thing to add to a sausage on a bun?

Bye from the Veggie Side!

Meatless Messy Joes

Oh technology. You either love it...or it ruins your life. Not too long ago I have a minor computer hiccup, and the resulted in me losing a few recipes I had saved. It really saddened me for three reasons. First of all, I am sad that I can't recreate to perfection the amazingness that I cooked. Second, I wont be able to give proper credit to the person that initially invented the recipe. And finally, I can't share the recipe with all of you lovely followers.  I will do my best to share with you the parts of the recipe that I remember, and if I find the original copy, I will post it right away so I can give credit where credit is due!



Today's lost recipe is for vegetarian sloppy joes. I felt weird calling them sloppy joes, when they were 100% meat free. I decided that I will dub them Meatless Messy Joes!

What You Need:



1 Package Smart Ground soy crumbles
3/4 tsp Mustard
1/2 cup Ketchup
2 1/2 tsp Brown suagr
3 cloves Garlic
Onion powder
Salt & Pepper to taste

What To Do:

Like I said, I lost the recipe, so I don't remember exactly what I did. But I'm pretty sure I just cooked the soy crumbles according to  the instructions, then mixed in all the rest of the ingredients.
Plop it all on some bread, and you got yourself a Meatless Messy Joe!









I could not get over how good this was! It instantly took me back to eating sloppy (turkey) joes as a kid. The sauce was the perfect mix of tomatoey from the ketchup, and a hint of sweetness and spice from the brown sugar and mustard. I even had Ben try it and he said it tasted almost exactly like a real sloppy joe! As a vegetarian cook, that is one of the best compliments I can get!

Do you like making Meatless Messy Joes too? What is your favorite recipe?

Bye from the Veggie Side!

Chik'n N Waffles

As I have mentioned many times on my blog, my favorite thing to do as a vegetarian is to re-create popular meaty foods but make them 100% vegetarian. When someone says to me "Oh I wish you could try this, its so good" is like a challenge to me.  I hate when people generalize vegetarianism as just salads and tofu. My goal is to show people that vegetarians can eat pretty similarly to meat eaters.

I have recreated various meaty dishes including buffalo chicken pizza, hamburger helper, sloppy joes, and even a hot sausage sandwich. But I wanted to go further. I wanted to recreate a dish that I had never seen turned vegetarian: Chicken and Waffles.

It might just be me, but I feel that recently chicken and waffles has been gaining popularity. People are always talking about the amazingness that is chicken and waffles and I knew that just being a vegetarian wasn't about to stop me from trying them. It was time to do this.



I started with my trusty Boca Chik'n patties. I just love these. They are probably the most realistic fake chicken I have ever had. The breading is crispy and the inside is meaty and peppery. I've used them in pasta, on sandwiches, and now its time to eat them on a waffle. For the waffle I just used a basic waffle mix.  Time to break out the waffle iron!



Yes that is a Bugs Bunny waffle iron, and it is 20 years old!  I remember my dad used to make me Bugs Bunny waffles all the time as a kid. I would sit and wait at the table while my dad made the waffle. Back then, the waffle always looked so massive, and I never finished it all. This baby has been away in a cabinet for so many years, and I decided to take it with me when I moved away from home. Who knew I would be breaking it out again for anther go!



The waffle came out just as perfectly as I remember as a kid.  Now its time to add the Chik'n, and the syrup!





I decided it needed some butter too, because if I am going to eat unhealthy food, I might as well go all out!





I have to say I wasn't totally blown away by my creation. I think the Chik'n was a bit too mild, and it got over powered by the syrup. Even though I couldn't taste the chicken too much I still enjoyed the mix of sweetness with a bit of salty and peppery. The waffle itself was perfect. It has a nice crunch and it took me right back to having waffles with my dad. This may not have been everything I dreamed of, but I was really happy I got to try something new and I can cross chicken and waffles off my meaty bucket list!

I had little visitor that wanted to try these too...



Muffin was very interested in my meal. I might have snuck her a little piece of waffle which she just LOVED!

Have you tried veggie chicken and waffles? What is your favorite meaty meal?

Bye from the Veggie Side!